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In Lithuania, the era of a contemporary artist's book began with the restoration of Independence. The year 1993 saw the opening of "The Book", the first international show of artist's books (Vilnius Contemporary Art Centre; cur. Kęstutis Vasiliūnas) which was followed by various presentations of book art in many other international art fairs abroad. Since 1997 Vasiliūnas has been curating the triennials dedicated to artist's book (including "Diary: Eight Days", "Love", "The Rabbit and the House" and "23 Sins"). The 8th triennial "Memento Mori" (2018) took place in Vilnius Martynas Mažvydas Public Library, later the exposition was brought to the USA, Italy and Germany. The triennials dedicated to the artist's book have been organised across the entire world. Since 1993, over 40 international shows and symposiums were held in Lithuania, Germany, USA, Austria, France, South Corea and elsewhere. Vasiliūnas has managed to assemble a growing international community dedicated to the genre of artist's book. The extensive international interest in the Lithuanian artist's book trienials testifies to the lasting importance of Vasiliūnas' curatorial work. R. Vaigeltaitė-V. became part of the contemporary artist's book movement back in the early 1990s. During the next 30 years she has created over 60 artist's books, all unique in terms of their form and structure. Most of her books have a traditional format of a leafed codex, but she also made leporello concertinas and book-objects. The books were made of various types of paper, including hand-made paper, as well as plastic, linen fabric, natural materials and found objects. The artist's books often involve mixed media such as linocut, wood block, colography, collage, stiching, ink jet print. The subjects of these diary-like records of everyday and travel experiences include mythology and religion. In terms of printing technique, Vaigeltaitė-V's book art is related to graphic printing: the ideas she comes up with during the making of the artist's book are then explored in graphic prints, and vice versa. The artistic scope of Prof. Kęstutis Vasiliūnas (Graphic Art Department, Vilnius Academy of Arts) is truly universal -- he is a graphic artist, artist's book designer, installation artist and curator. Vasiliūnas got interested in the artist's book in the early 1990s. His first work -- The Book of Creation -- was exhibited at "The Book" (1993), a show dedicated to the genre of artist's book. Vasiliūnas usually makes singular books and small print runs. Among the techniques he uses are coloured wood block print, longhand writing, drawing, ink jet print and movable type print. Vasiliūnas' books retain their visual link with the traditional block-shaped book. Despite of what they are made of -- be it wooden panels, paper, tea bags -- they all have landscape or square-shaped rectangluar pages and they all feature lapels. The series of of tea bag book-objects was launched in the naugthties. Vasiliūnas also works as a graphic designer. His work is defined by an interplay between these two disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper was inspired by the need to acknowledge and identify the signs of war in the Lithuanian art of the 1930s. In order to keep the specificity of art historical research in view, the research is narrowed down to the visual artefacts of various kinds and purposes--from paintings (Justinas Vienožinskis) and graphic prints (Mečislovas Bulaka, Jonas Kuzminskis, and Žibuntas Mikšys) to the mass-produced press illustrations, posters, adverts, and decorations. The paper analyses historiographically lesser known artworks, including the posters by Vytautas Jurkūnas, Boleslovas Motuza and Liudas Vilimas, and the examples of imported art (lithographs by Louis Lozowick as well as foreign photography). The research material leads to the conclusion that Lithuania was preparing for a modern warfare which, similarly to the situation in the neighbouring countries, was widely associated with new types of weapons; tanks, planes, bombs and gas masks were regarded as symbols of the upcoming war. The image of modern warfare was reflected and disseminated not only via political texts of both local and foreign authors, reports from war zones, civil defense instructions, but also by images, primarily mass-printed press illustrations, public posters, event decorations, and advertisements. From a product of mass visual consumption, the motif of a gas mask got transposed onto paintings and graphic art where it acquired the status of the sign of modern warfare and acted as a premonition for the war that was about to engulf Lithuania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has not been much academic research into how the artefacts of orientalist art ended up in Lithuanian museums, libraries and private collections, and how they are represented. This paper raises the question of the Far Eastern art heritage in Lithuania, and addresses the problems of artistic attribution. The paper analyses the case of the Chinese woodblock prints--nianhua (年画), or the so-called "New Year images"--stored in the orientalist art collections of the Lithuanian Art Museum (LAM) and Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis National Museum of Art (MKČNMA). The collections contain seven nianhua prints of this particular format and style. The research has successfully decoded the Chinese inscriptions; specified and determined the titles of the prints; attributed the prints to specific printmaking schools and workshops; identified the theatrical motifs with their corresponding literary sources and Peking opera productions; elaborated on the characters and their various properties; specified the meanings of the allegories, emblems, scenographic makeup, and costumes; and defined the particularities of artistic expression. The paper combined iconographic, historical and comparative methodologies, and carried out a partial research on the artistic style. Compared to the Chinese graphic art collections in the museums abroad, the works stored in LAM and MKČMA are not as numerous, yet they are arguably just as rare and valuable. The prints are unique in their form, aesthetic value, and artistic technique. All prints are attributed to the famous Yangliuqing school and dated to the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. They are all in good condition, and some of them are professionally restored. This first attempt to identify and introduce the Chinese woodblock prints from the orientalist art collections of Lithuanian museums is intended to inspire further research, promote the museum collections, and give an impetus to expand them. The research aims to bring a wider knowledge about the theatre-themed prints that reflect the whole complex of Chinese spiritual culture to the contemporary audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A congress was one of the principal official events of the Soviet period giving a rhythm to institutional life and declaring its guidelines in the form of reports and resolutions. Periodically held congresses of artists were not an exception. The material of these congresses reflects the institutional position of the Artists' Union of the Lithuanian SSR (hereinafter referred to as AU LSSR) of that time, its relation to other state institutions and creative unions. Alongside, it reveals much about art and culture politics, as well as the hot issues of that time and the artists' position in that respect. The article has been prepared on the basis of the material of the artists' congresses that took place between 1952 and 1987, covering the period from the end of the Stalinist era to the first signs of the perestroika. Attention is focused on the late Soviet period. The aim of the research is to discuss the dynamics of official art politics of that time and to collate it with an artist's personal experience. It was important to find out the position of the AU LSSR regarding the relevant and innovatory artistic phenomena of that time and establish if this organization representing all professional artists stimulated progressive change or acted as an inert and restraining force. The research is based on the analysis of the work of Rimtautas Vincentas Gibavičius. He was one of the most active participants in the art scene of the Soviet period, an authoritative figure in both the AU LSSR and the informal art scene. His work won recognition quite early. Its value was not called into question even after the collapse of the Soviet Union; on the contrary, it became an intrinsic part of the heritage of Lithuanian graphic art of the second half of the 20th century. Comparing the material of the artists' congresses with sources reflecting Gibavičius's creative views - his creative legacy, autobiography, memories of contemporaries and texts by art critics, a question about the relation between official art politics and an artist's personal creative stance is raised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an overview of creation of three graphic artists of one generation and graduates from one and the same artistic school, colleagues and close friends Irena Daukšaitė, Elvyra Katalina Kriaučiūnaitė and Nijolė Šaltenytė, which was carried out on the basis of examples of printmaking, which is their main artistic activity. The beginning of their creative path coincides with the so-called 'female' generation, which made a push into Lithuanian graphics in the beginning of 80s. It introduced more emotionality, sensitivity into Lithuanian graphics. Plastic expression in Lithuanian graphics of that period became more metaphorical and complicated. Then the popular linocut was gradually replaced by classical metal techniques, which enabled artists to convey more chamber intonations, more subtle tonal gradations and quiver of delicate lines of tracery. Artists of young generation were united by their wish to maintain internal independence, to philosophise on ethic categories and issues of existence. They were not interested in folk styling Lithuanian graphics. Their works contain Lithuanian identity, which is encoded in nostalgic lyrical emotion and in expressive character of the form. The creative works of all the three artists consistently acquired post-modernist character concurrently following general trends in European graphics. Experience accumulated while participating in republican and international art exhibitions expanded their outlook, enabled the artists to perceive latest trends in contemporary graphics, which resulted in changes in their individual artistic style. Significant awards received in republican and international exhibitions of graphics evidence the ability of these artists to express own ideas through universal art images. Close friendship of the three artists and their everlasting communication inevitably conditioned certain similarities of artistic expression in their creation. Lyricism and romantic elevation were most vividly revealed in the early works by Irena Daukšaitė. The early Nijolė Šaltenytė's and Elvyra Katalina Kriaučiūnaitė's creation developed towards similar post-modernist trend. All the three artists purposefully used more complex and metaphorical plastic language, only Šaltenytė searched for creative impulses in surrealistic manner, whereas the creation of Daukšaitė and Kriaučiūnaitė to bigger and bigger extent approached esthetisized, perfectly composed abstraction in terms of artistic forms used. Their engravings pregnantly enrich positions of contemporary Lithuanian graphics, which is oriented towards decorative abstraction. Enjoyment of colours, emotional pictorial features are characteristic of both Daukšaitė and Kriaučiūnaitė, but hand-made paper is the distinctive sign in the creative works by the latter artist. The only Nijolė Šaltenytė remained faithful to the figurative. Colour in her works is always minimal and it is usually applied only to highlight the emphasised elements of the work. More radical changes in the style were not observed in the works by Šaltenytė: there was a gradual transition from landscape compositions of chamber, fragile nature and full of elements of romantic flight to generalised monumental form and multi-meaningful expression. The three artists are not indifferent to artistic life in Lithuania and to development of contemporary graphics: they are active participants in republican and thematic exhibitions of engravings, the artists are also organisers, curators of exhibitions and compilers of exhibition catalogues. For many years Nijolė Šaltenytė has been chairperson of Graphics Unit within the Lithuanian Artists' Association. The artists are stimulated by huge spiritual potential, a continuous striving for improvisation. They do not avoid mixing and combining expression means characteristic of post-modernist art. They expand the limits of the concept of graphics, free of technological limitations, employing digital print and creating spatial objects. In the panorama of contemporary graphics, the artists are distinguished not only by their productivity but also by their ability to renew, change and surprise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]